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Super Tuesday: How It Happened State By State

Super Tuesday was a big night for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They each captured seven states in their respective Democratic and Republican races, extending leads over their remaining rivals.

But as we pointed out earlier, delegates were the name of the game on Tuesday, and each candidate's margin of victory mattered. NPR's Delegate Tracker has the full recap of what we know so far about how delegates have been allocated, according to estimates from The Associated Press.

Here's a quick snapshot of how the races in each state broke down:

Texas

The Lone Star State was the big prize of the night, and the bulk of its delegates will go to favorite son Ted Cruz. With 99 percent of the vote reporting, the state's junior senator notched an important 17-point win over Trump, and so far Cruz is projected to get 57 of the state's delegates while Trump gets 20.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio missed out on getting any delegates because he fell just short of the 20-percent threshold in the state, getting only 18 percent in the GOP primary.

Clinton beat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders 2-to-1 in Texas, and picks up 122 delegates to his 48.

Georgia

The Peach State had the next-largest number of delegates up for grabs, and Trump got an important — and impressive — victory here, too. With 99 percent reporting, he took 39 percent of the GOP primary vote; Cruz and Rubio received 25 and 24 percent. Delegates are awarded proportionally and based on congressional district, and Trump is on pace to get 36 delegates, while Cruz takes 14 and Rubio gets 11.

Clinton got a big victory in Georgia, too, again fueled by support from African-Americans. According to exit polls, just over half of the electorate were black voters, and she won them by a 71-point margin.

Tennessee

Late support from Gov. Bill Haslam and Sen. Lamar Alexander wasn't enough to boost Rubio in the Volunteer State, or even help him be the runner-up to Trump. With 99 percent of the vote reporting, the real estate mogul took 39 percent in the state, while Cruz got 25 percent and Rubio took 21 percent. That breakdown gives Trump a whopping 30 delegates, while Cruz takes 12 and Rubio netted just two.

This was another state with a high evangelical constituency. According to exit polls, more than three-quarters of voters identified themselves as born-again Christians. And Trump carried 41 percent of those voters, a 14-point edge over Cruz, denying him a win with religious voters that should have been his base.

Clinton also cruised to a decisive win over Sanders here, with more than double his support with a 66 percent to 32 percent victory. That should give her 40 delegates to Sanders' 22.

Alabama

This was Trump's best state in the South. With all votes reporting, he won the Heart of Dixie with 43 percent; Cruz took 21 percent and Rubio got 19 percent. Such a decisive loss is a blow to Cruz, though — another state with significant evangelical turnout (77 percent according to exit polls) that he lost to Trump by a stunning 22-point margin.

Such a big victory helped Trump almost sweep the state's delegates; he's expected to get 28 delegates while Cruz gets just two.

Clinton had her biggest victory of the night in the state, besting Sanders 79 percent to 19 percent. Again, that was fueled by black voters, who made up 59 percent of the Democratic electorate. She carried 93 percent of black voters, compared to 5 percent that broke for Sanders. That huge win gives her 37 delegates to Sanders' four.

Virginia

Early on in the night, it looked like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio might pull an upset in the Old Dominion. He racked up big margins in the affluent, well-educated D.C. suburbs that lean more moderate. According to exit polls, he trumped Trump there 42 percent to 24 percent.

But he couldn't catch Trump's advantage in other parts of the commonwealth. The GOP front-runner carried the state's more rural areas and even edged past Rubio in the Richmond suburbs and the D.C. exurbs. With 99 percent of the vote reporting, Trump won 35 percent to Rubio's 32 percent.

Delegate breakdowns mean they fought almost to a draw though; Trump is expected to get 17 delegates with 16 for Rubio, eight for Cruz and five for Kasich. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson picked up his only delegates of the night, netting three after getting 6 percent of the primary vote.

Virginia was another Southern state where Clinton won big, beating Sanders 64 percent to 35 percent, with all votes reporting. That should give Clinton 61 more delegates while Sanders takes 32.

Arkansas

Some observers thought Cruz might sneak a win in the Natural State, but with 96 percent of the vote reporting, Trump narrowly edged him out, 33 percent to 31 percent, while Rubio took a quarter of the vote. Exit polls showed 77 percent of the GOP electorate described themselves as evangelicals, and Trump and Cruz split those voters with 33 percent apiece. But Trump had the edge among non-evangelical voters, helping him eke out the win. He's on pace to get 13 delegates, while Cruz and Rubio will get nine and six, respectively.

Clinton won decisively in the state where she was once first lady and which launched her and her husband's political careers. She bested Sanders 66 percent to 30 percent, and took 18 delegates while Sanders got seven.

Massachusetts

The Bay State gave Trump, another northeastern Republican, his biggest win of the night. With 97 percent of the vote reporting, he took 49 percent of the vote while the rest of his competitors were mired in the teens. That big win gave him 22 more delegates. Kasich and Rubio netted eight apiece, while Cruz notched four.

The state was the closest of the night for Clinton and Sanders and was the last Democratic contest to be called by The Associated Press. Clinton was edging out Sanders by fewer than 400 votes with just over 97 percent of precincts reporting. She'll get 45 delegates to Sanders' 43, but when you add in pledged superdelegates, Clinton will net 61 total delegates.

Oklahoma

Cruz pulled out a surprise victory in the Sooner State, beating Trump by six points, 34 percent to 28 percent. Rubio came in third with 26 percent, despite his campaign telegraphing early Tuesday that it felt good about the state. All votes have been reported.

This was a state where evangelical voters did propel Cruz to victory. With three-quarters of the GOP electorate identifying as born-again Christians, Cruz won 39 percent of those voters, compared to 26 percent for Rubio and 25 percent for Trump, according to exit polls. That gave Cruz 14 delegates, while Trump netted 12 and Rubio got 11.

Sanders also notched an important win in Oklahoma, besting Clinton by 10 points in the state, 52 percent to 42 percent. The electorate in the state was much more homogeneous than Southern states, with white voters making up just under three-quarters of the electorate. Sanders won white voters by 20 points, while Clinton carried black voters — just 14 percent of the electorate — by 44 points. The Vermont senator will take away 20 delegates to Clinton's 16.

Minnesota

The Land of 10,000 Lakes gave Rubio his first win. With 92 percent of caucus results reporting, he took 37 percent, followed by Cruz at 29 percent and Trump at 21 percent, his only third-place finish of the night.

But that caucus win actually gives Rubio a draw with Cruz in Minnesota delegates — each will take away a dozen delegates, while Trump netted eight.

With 86 percent reporting, Sanders got a 24-point victory over Clinton in the Democratic caucuses. With superdelegates factored in, he will take away 42 delegates compared to her 24, according to AP estimates.

Colorado

With 98 percent of the vote reporting, Sanders comfortably carried the Centennial State's Democratic caucuses with a 19-point margin. The caucuses give him 33 delegates and Clinton 23, but she ties him when her 10 superdelegates are added in.

On the GOP side, there isn't a winner to report. Republicans were beginning their caucus process to pick delegates to county caucuses; there's no presidential preference poll, yet.

Vermont

Sanders rolled to a win in his home Green Mountain State. With 97 percent reporting, he beat Clinton by a whopping 72 points. He gets all of the state's 10 allocated delegates, along with three superdelegates; Clinton has four pledged superdelegates in the state.

The GOP contest ended up being one of the few nail-biters of the night. Kasich turned in a better-than-expected performance, but he couldn't overtake Trump, who won with 33 percent to Kasich's 30 percent. The two tied for delegates though, each banking six.

Alaska

Republican caucuses in the Last Frontier were the only contest in the nation's largest state, and they were won by the favored son of the nation's second-largest. With all votes reporting, Cruz had 36 percent of the vote to Trump's 33 percent and Rubio's 11 percent. The candidates picked up, respectively, 12, 11 and five delegates.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jessica Taylor is a political reporter with NPR based in Washington, DC, covering elections and breaking news out of the White House and Congress. Her reporting can be heard and seen on a variety of NPR platforms, from on air to online. For more than a decade, she has reported on and analyzed House and Senate elections and is a contributing author to the 2020 edition of The Almanac of American Politicsand is a senior contributor to The Cook Political Report.
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